TARCC Research Aims for 2015-2017 Biennium

The goal of the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium (TARCC) is to advance research efforts in Texas that lead to better diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD). TARCC researchers are aggressively pursuing a number of cutting-edge objectives aimed at improving the efficiency of early diagnosis, understanding the disease mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's, and uncovering effective disease prevention.

The objectives of TARCC are to pursue investigator initiated and collaborative research studies to answer questions related to the role of biological and clinical markers for inflammation, cardiovascular factors, hyperinsulinemia, and other risk factors in the development and progression of AD. These factors will be investigated longitudinally and with regard to how they may differ between Hispanic and non-Hispanic citizens of Texas. Additional objectives relate to achieving and maintaining clinical sample sizes and longitudinal follow-up targets, as well as maintaining overall data quality and protocol fidelity. The following aims are adopted with the understanding that additional funds from state or extramural sources will be required to pursue research activities beyond bio-banking and maintenance of the clinical cohorts and dataset.

Specific Research Aims

Aim 1

Aim 1a

Aim 1b

Aim 1c

Aim 2

Aim 3

Aim 1

Maintain a longitudinal database of clinical and biological data from participants diagnosed with AD, MCI or normal controls.

Aim 1a

Enroll into the Texas Harris Alzheimer’s Research Study individuals diagnosed with probable AD, MCI and cognitively normal controls (NC). The appropriate number within each diagnostic classification of participants will be determined by the TARCC Steering Committee. Approximately 40% of the Texas Harris Alzheimer’s Research Study participants will be Hispanic.

Aim 1b

Maintain a well-curated Tissue Bank and Data Coordinating Center to ensure proper quality control of samples and data collected by the TARCC sites. The Data Coordinating Center will conduct and distribute the results of quality control analyses of the data bank to ensure the integrity of all Consortium data. The Tissue Bank will use best lab practices to ensure the integrity of TARCC samples.

Aim 1c

Optimize the TARCC protocol to provide data and samples as appropriate to projects approved by the TARCC Steering Committee and the Texas Council on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders.

Aim 2

Examine the role of genetic variants, inflammatory and cardio-metabolic protein biomarkers, inflammation and CVD risk factors in predicting the age at symptom onset and the progression rate of AD.

Aim 3

Investigate whether the risk factors, clinical features, age at onset and progression rate of AD differ between non-Caribbean Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites.

The Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium is a collaborative Alzheimer’s research effort directed and funded by the Texas Council on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders, as part of the Darrell K Royal Texas Alzheimer’s Initiative.
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